Hurray For Berry Season!

So ... I bought this mega-muffin pan a while back to satisfy the muffin maniac in the grey cottage. And this past weekend, I made muffins from the first of the wild blueberries that SB brought down off of Gap Mountain. A worthy muffin recipe with a BIG pay off. These muffins are double the size of a conventional muffin/cupcake tin offering. Not that we're gluttons for a good muffin or anything .......

To boot, SB got up early on Saturday morning and picked the first of the raspberries from the raspberry canes that he planted last year! There were just a few, but oh, what a spectacular debut they made in our breakfast salad. Sprout Kate and her boyfriend, Seth were visiting for the weekend. They woke up to a delightful breakfast on the sunny back porch.

Boy, I love summertime!

This salad had nothing more than a few tablespoons of dry vermouth and a couple teaspoons of honey drizzled over top. Snipped mint made a nice flourish. Good basic flavours of fruit and mint with a touch of sweet syrup.

My gift to you ... if you don't already have a muffin recipe that sends you into the stratosphere.

Blueberry Muffins

Oven: 425° F for about 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

⅓ c. sugar plus 2  tbsp. more for sprinkling atop muffins

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

1 c. whole milk or buttermilk

1 large egg

¼ c. butter, melted

1-1  ½ c. fresh wild blueberries, washed, drained, and picked over

Making the Muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 425° F. Generously grease a 12 count muffin pan or a 6 count mega muffin pan. Set aside.
2. Zest the lemon and combine it with the 2 tbsp. measure of sugar in a small ramekin. Toss with a fork and set aside to meld.
3. Whisk the flour, sugar measure, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
4. Melt the butter and let cool slightly.
5. Measure the milk and break the egg into the milk. Use a fork to whisk the two together. Add the melted butter and stir gently.
6. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture. Pour in the lemon juice. Stir JUST until the batter forms up.
7. Turn in the blue berries and gently fold to distribute the berries.
8. Scoop into the muffin pan of your choice.
9. Use your fingers to sprinkle on the lemon zest/sugar alllll over the top of the muffins.
10. Pop into the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
11. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes in the pan and then, run a knife around the edges and gently remove to a pretty platter.
12. Serve warm or let them cool and then cover closely. Re-warm in a 250° for 15 or 20 minutes.